The Federal Reserve may have a housing problem.
The persistence of housing inflation poses a problem for Fed officials as they consider when to roll back interest rates.
Housing is by far the biggest monthly expense for most families, which means it weighs heavily on inflation calculations.
“If you want to know where inflation is going, you need to know where housing inflation is going,” said Mark Franceski, managing director at Zelman & Associates, a housing research firm.
Housing inflation, he added, “is not slowing at the rate that we expected or anyone expected.”Those expectations were based on private-sector data from real estate websites like Zillow and Apartment List and other private companies showing that rents have barely been rising recently and have been falling outright in some markets.
Persons:
”, Mark Franceski
Organizations:
Labor Department, Zelman, Associates